Free Republic

A comprehensive communication-scanning regime would allow national authorities to identify political opponents far more quickly -- a tool capable of making life hell for anyone inconvenient to those in power. It is Ursula von der Leyen’s personal flagship project: the surveillance of private chats. All signs suggest that as early as Wednesday, the EU will make a renewed attempt to establish a dedicated spying authority. Wednesday could mark a turning point in the history of the European Union. As MCC Brussels and MEP Martin Sonneborn warned on Monday, a decisive vote on the EU’s proposed “chat control” is scheduled for...

According to the former head of European diplomacy, the EU should recognize the shift in American policy and respond accordinglyBRUSSELS, November 25. /TASS/. Europe can no longer consider the United States an ally after American President Donald Trump put forward his plan for the Ukrainian settlement without any input from the EU, former head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell said. As evidenced by the 28-point plan for a Ukrainian settlement, the United States under Trump can no longer be considered an ally of Europe, which is not even consulted on issues affecting its own security, he wrote on X. According...

A new “grass to gas” agricultural biomethane plant is set to provide enough energy to heat two pharmaceutical manufacturing sites by the end of next year. The state-of-the-art plant is being launched by Carbon AMS in Duleek in County Meath today. The plant is a partnership between the anaerobic digestion company, local farmers and biopharmaceutical company Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease. Carbon AMS is focused on the production of biomethane in Ireland by converting “grass to gas” through anaerobic digestion. When operational, the plant will cover 100% of the heating needs of Alexion’s two manufacturing sites in Dublin and Athlone by...

EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner has said Ireland is “very well” placed to adopt the Migration and Asylum Pact, and described the Citywest accommodation center for International Protection applicants as an example of “best practice”. He was speaking in Dublin after visiting Citywest, holding meetings with senior gardaí and the head of the Criminal Assets Bureau, as well as speaking to Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan. The Migration and Asylum Pact becomes operational this June and seeks to introduce a more harmonized approach to asylum, migration and border checks, with swifter screening, mandatory health and security checks and a streamlined...

The 28-point plan hammered out by US and Russian envoys and put to Ukraine this week came with a deadline and an implicit threat: Sign up or face the risk of being abandoned. US President Donald Trump said Friday that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky would “have to like” the US plan, suggesting he is in no mood to negotiate. Since then, Trump has sent mixed messages, saying the plan was not his final offer but adding that if Zelensky did not accept it he could “continue to fight his little heart out.” Zelensky recognized the stark choice in a somber...

Will the European Court Decide Whether to Recognize Polygamy as a Right?The European Union, in words, boasts of being a bulwark of Western civilization, a guarantor of international peace, a guardian of free enterprise, democracy, stability, and peace among peoples, having created the largest single market in the world and promoting “rights, freedoms, and cooperation.” In reality, as repeated in other analyses, the European Union is undergoing a drastic Sinicization, with all that this entails.Moreover, to confront the steep demographic decline and the growing Islamization of the continent, bureaucrats—especially the more progressive ones, though not only them—must reckon with internal...

While Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government is catapulting Germany into a debt spiral, long-struggling Argentina has begun paying down its liabilities. President Javier Milei is holding up a mirror to Berlin’s debt-addicted political class -- and the reflection is one of unmistakable failure. It took Argentina’s President Milei barely six months, right in the middle of the severe economic crisis he inherited from his socialist predecessors, to clean up a completely ruined public budget. That was in June of last year. This week, the Finance Ministry in Buenos Aires reported something that, in Germany today, would probably be dismissed as fiscal...

The United States government has warned that mass migration represents an “existential threat” to Western civilization and has warned Europe against the continuing open borders policies and the creation of two-tier justice systems that favor foreigners over native populations. In a shot across the bow against the open borders ideology that has taken hold in the halls of power in many Western European capitals, the U.S. State Department urged its allies “to take bold action and defend citizens against the threats posed by mass migration.” The diplomatic arm of the Trump administration also warned that its embassies will be actively...

No further Nato expansion. Occupied Ukrainian territory recognised as Russian, including by the US. No prosecution for Russia for war crimes. These are some of the clauses – part of a ‘surrender document’, brokered by Donald Trump – that Ukraine is facing after almost four years of war. Buried in the middle of the 28-point ‘peace blueprint’ being hammered out between the US and Russia, clause 14 stands out like a flashing sign. It offers up $100 billion in frozen Russian assets – repackaged as a fund for reconstruction, with the US pocketing half the profits. Meanwhile, Russia would be...

The US State Department will focus on “natural rights” like freedom of speech in its next human rights report, a senior State Department official said Thursday, as the Trump administration targets traditional European allies for alleged freedom of speech restrictions. The move further institutionalizes changes seen in the latest report released in August, which covered the 2024 calendar year. That report alleged “significant human rights issues” in allied countries including the United Kingdom, France and Germany over “serious restrictions on freedom of expression.” The State Department instructed all embassies and consulates in a diplomatic cable Thursday to begin preparing the...

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Hamas rejected the United Nations Security Council passing a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, saying it fails to meet Palestinians' rights and demands and seeks to impose an international trusteeship on the enclave that Palestinians and resistance factions oppose. "Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation," the group added.

It’s been a weird year for Spanish tourism. Scroll through the British press and you’d think Spaniards are fed up with tourists altogether, from protests in Mallorca to “Tourists go home” graffiti in Barcelona. But behind this noise, travel experts say something else is happening: misinformation. Now, British travel agencies have had enough. The UK’s main travel association, ABTA, has launched a guide to help agents explain the situation to worried clients. In doing so, they push back against what they call a “distorted picture” of Spain’s relationship with tourism. A guide for Brits travelling to Spain Speaking at the...

Ireland’s media regulator began an investigation into social media platform X on Wednesday over concerns it is not giving users a chance to appeal content moderation decisions and that its internal complaint-handling systems are not easy to access. The probe, the first opened by the regulator in its role supervising the compliance of platforms established in Ireland with the European Union’s Digital Services Act, will assess Elon Musk-owned X’s compliance with parts of the law. […] The investigation arose from concerns held by the Irish regulator’s supervision team, as well as information provided by a non-governmental organization, HateAid, and a...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is not “afraid” of Donald Trump unlike other western leaders and dismissed reports that their last meeting in Washington was volatile, adding that he had good relations with the US president. He also said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian that King Charles had helped build relations with Trump and described the British monarch as “very supportive” of Ukraine. The Ukrainian president denied claims Trump had tossed maps of the battlefield aside in a stormy exchange in October at the White House, where he had arrived hoping to secure supplies of US Tomahawk cruise...

Embedded video linked to X Pro-Palestinian protesters attempted to firebomb a concert by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris on Thursday night. During the performance, which was held at the prestigious Philharmonic Hall in Paris, dozens of protesters broke into the hall, chanted anti-Israel slogans and lit flares. The music was stopped and the musicians began to leave the stage. A post published by the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University read: "Pro-Palestinian protesters firebombed a concert and the musicians were removed from the stage. After the matter was resolved, the they were brought back on stage to...

Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani has won the New York City mayoral election. His victory comes despite many distortions and false claims circulating about him — including one from President Donald Trump. A fact check. As they chose the next mayor of New York City, voters faced a pivotal decision that reflects a broader generational and ideological divide with national implications. The race for mayor of the biggest city in the United States pitted Democratic nominee Zohran Kwame Mamdani against independent candidate and former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican repeat contender Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani's win marks a historic moment: he will...

A senior EU official has said he expects the US "not to interfere" in global climate negotiations in Brazil next week, citing aggressive behavior at last month’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) meetings in London. At those talks, US officials reportedly intimidated diplomats from Africa and the so-called Small Island States, warning some they might lose US transit rights or face entry restrictions for themselves and their families if they did not help block the UN-backed Net Zero Framework for shipping. The official said they were unaware whether commission staff had been targeted directly. “We have no indication our colleagues were...

Officials have said the prospects of EU environment ministers agreeing ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions by 2040 will go down to the wire when they gather for an emergency meeting in Brussels. Member states have been tasked with agreeing on a 2040 target at today’s meeting so that they could in turn agree on an interim target for 2035, which the EU would then bring to the United Nations COP30 summit in Brazil on Thursday. However, officials have said securing an agreement will be “challenging”. The European Commission had proposed a target of cutting carbon emissions by 90% by...

A shocking poll shows that two years after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre that murdered more than 1,200 Israelis, a majority of Palestinians still say the terror group was right to launch the attack — and, equally disturbing, an overwhelming 86 percent deny that Hamas committed the well-documented atrocities against civilians. According to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), 53 percent of Palestinians say Hamas’s decision to launch the October 7 assault was correct; support is strongest in the West Bank at 59 percent, while 44 percent in the Gaza Strip back the attack — a...

A group of sick Palestinian children have been evacuated from Gaza to Ireland to receive medical treatment, the Tánaiste and Minister for Health have confirmed. Seven children arrived in Dublin on Saturday evening, with 29 accompanying family members.It marks the third medical evacuation from Gaza following Government approval in September last year in response to an appeal from the World Health Organization (WHO) to address the health needs of Gazans. Doctors from Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) worked with the WHO to identify sick and injured children who would benefit from treatment in Ireland. The group traveled from Gaza to Jordan...